PPC Audit in Services Offered by PPC Outsourcing Australia

Amazing Workflow used in PPC Audit in Services Provided by PPC Outsourcing Australia

A Google Ads account audit also called a PPC account audit is the best way to make sure your PPC ad campaigns are running optimally. PPC campaigns need regular tune-ups to function at their best; you can’t just set them up and leave them. A pay-per-click audit is crucial because PPC ads cost money every time someone clicks on them, so marketers must ensure that the ads are reaching the right audience with the right messaging. Regular audits help prevent the money from getting spent on underperforming ads. However, PPC audits are complex and valuable elements of a PPC campaign may be accidentally overlooked. This is why it is so important to have an amazing workflow in a paid search audit to elevate your PPC ad campaigns from good to great.

How we achieve an amazing workflow in a PPC audit

Google ads accounts have any number of elements that have to be reviewed making a Google ads audit a laborious and complicated task. The point of a paid search audit is to ensure that everything is set up properly for success and money is not being wasted. Best practices must be followed to improve conversion rates and reduce costs.

Here are the steps we take to achieve the optimum workflow in PPC audits.

• Build a foundation for the audit and discuss the initial findings with the client
• Get access to the campaigns and review the performance
• Make note of anything that seems anomalous or doesn’t meet your expectations
• Check account history and make note of trends
• Understand how the client has measured success in the past
• Prepare a small review report to discuss initial findings with the client
• Let the client tell you how the ads have performed historically
• Understand whether the client thinks the ads are underperforming or not and if you agree with their assessment.

• Audit google ads account structure

The first step is to assess the PPC campaign and Account settings. Here are some points that are reviewed

• Conversions and conversion rates must be tracked properly. For this, conversion tracking should be enabled.
• The campaigns should not be running on Display and Search networks. Campaigns running on these networks must be separated.
• Campaigns running on Display networks must exclude sensitive content to protect the brand image.
• Ad rotations should not hamper campaigns with manual CPC (cost-per-click) bidding. Don’t use the ‘Rotate indefinitely’ settings.
• Ensure that mobile app traffic is excluded to avoid the ad budget from getting wasted on random clicks made by users when interacting with the apps.

• Review the keywords

PPC campaigns run on keywords. They can make or break a campaign. So, one of the most vital aspects of PPC audit services is to ensure that the optimum keywords are being used.

• Negative keywords should not conflict with other keywords.
• The keyword match types should be properly formatted so that incoming traffic is filtered properly, for both regular keywords and negative keywords.
• There should be no duplicate keywords competing with each other, making it difficult to come to the right conclusions.
• Check that all keywords are eligible to run; none should be disapproved.
• There should not be too many keywords per ad group as it will cause relevancy issues.
• Search terms that convert well should be added as keywords to help build relevant ad copies. You can then select the relevant landing pages to answer specific search questions.
• Negative keywords and negative keyword match types should have proper formatting so that unwanted traffic is blocked out.

• Assess the PPC campaigns

• Check if the campaign is using the correct network, such as Shopping, Search, Dynamic Remarketing, etc.
• Check if the best targeting method is being used based on the campaign strategy.
• Figure out whether the primary categories are organised properly or are overlapping in the campaigns.
• Review whether the campaign settings are set up properly, for example, bidding strategy, ad type, time of day, and so on.

• Landing pages assessment

• Landing pages should be accessible and have SiteLinks and keyword-level Final URLs.
• Use secure URLs (HTTPS) in ads and keyword-final URLs to signal the safety of customer data.

• Review the ads

• There should be no duplicate ads. If there are, run A/B tests to choose the most appealing ad copy to run.
• Check that all ad groups have active ads running on them.
• Every ad group should have at least two ads to test various messages and select the winning option.
• Get rid of outdated ad formats.
• Every ad group should contain one high-quality Responsive Search Ad (RSA) and no more of that type.

• Review performance and insights

This next part of a paid search audit is reviewing ad and campaign performance and uses data to glean insights. Performance should be reviewed to check that money is not getting wasted on irrelevant configurations and to see where additional conversions can happen.

• Every advertiser has a threshold where they must accept whether a campaign strategy is working or not. Every advertiser has to determine their threshold based on traffic volume. Once you know the threshold for a campaign’s success, you can delve into the Google Ads platform to check where your campaigns are losing money.
• Using data, you will be able to figure out what can be done to reduce the average cost per action (CPA). You can see the worst-performing segments of a campaign and rectify the issue, which will decrease the CPA.
• Check how you can improve the Quality Score (QS) as a higher QS means lower prices per click. You need to assess which QS subfactors (Ad Relevance, Expected CTR, Landing page quality) are responsible for lowering the QS. Once you pinpoint the issue, you will know where you need to focus your efforts for improvement.

The bottom line

There is no one-size-fits-all approach for PPC campaigns. Similarly, you cannot take a rote, standardised approach for a PPC audit. Nevertheless, utilising a good workflow in a PPC account audit can ensure that every segment of a PPC campaign is thoroughly analysed for optimisation. This is what is offered by our services in PPC Outsourcing Australia.